Puig downplays severity of left thumb injury

Dodgers phenom injured while making diving catch against Cubs

By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, wearing a soft wrist brace, downplayed the severity of a contusion near the base of his left thumb that forced him out of the Dodgers' 3-0 win over the Cubs on Saturday.

Puig was injured making a diving catch in right field on Starlin Castro's line drive in the bottom of the seventh inning, his glove hitting the ground and rolling over as he landed. He remained in the game but was removed for the bottom of the eighth inning. He pointed to the skin webbing between the base of the thumb and index finger.

Puig said he suffered a similar injury to the same spot while playing earlier this year at Double-A Chattanooga, missing 10 games, but said, "This feels better."

No X-rays were taken, Puig said, and the swelling "isn't much."

"I'll see how I feel before [Sunday's] game, take some swings, decide then," he said of playing Sunday.

Manager Don Mattingly said he believed the injury was not serious.

Earlier in the game, Puig slammed into the wall in right-field foul territory trying to make a running catch of Jeff Samardzija's fly, the ball tipping off his glove, tapping off the protective pad in front of the brick wall and landing in Puig's glove as he lay on the warning track. It was originally ruled a catch, then changed to a foul ball after an umpire conference.

Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.